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Monday, August 22, 2016

This is a test using an old Pentax 50mm on my new Sony AR7ii flash whizz bang digital camera.
Using this lens with a cheap adaptor, I was very very pleasantly surprised. I've been trying a few other old lenses I've got stashed in the cupboard. I even had almost acceptable results from an old Russian lens and a mold infested elderly Zeiss Tessar. As soon as time permits, Im going to go for a wander and give them a good go.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

A few of the cameras that were part of my earlier snapping days. Starting at the top with a Kodak Brownie 127, this was a Christmas or birthday gift from my parents in about 1971. Made from Bakelite it was a very basic machine, no focus or exposure control, just point, click and cross fingers.
The next one is an Asahiflex, it was the first SLR camera with an instant return mirror. The predecessor of the Pentax. I bought it from Nuttalls, a second hand shop in Manchester St, I think it was about $24. I had it on lay buy. The little viewfinder next to the rewind knob is a sports finder. This made it easier to follow a sporting event because the viewfinder that was actually used to focus reversed the image. You had to flip it open to look down into it.
The next is a Nikon F2, this made me feel like a real photographer. I used to feel like a real man with this slung casually over my shoulder. At about this time Paul Simon had a song out called Kodachrome and he mentioned he had a Nikon camera in the lyrics and he used Kodachrome. I was that man/boy.
The last one is a fine piece of German engineering, the Rolleiflex SL66. I fell in love with camera after seeing an advertisement for it an american photography magazine. I hungered for it for many years. It was top of the line in medium format cameras, the equal or better of Hasselblad. It had bellows that gave you movements to help control perspective and depth of field issues, Also you could whip off the lens and put it on back to front and you then had a macro lens. The lens was a Zeiss 80mm Planar, just the thought of it gave me goose bumps. I finally had the opportunity to get my hands on this one in the late 70's. Sadly I now regret I traded in my Rollieflex f2.8 twin lens reflex for it. The SL66 never left my side for about 20 years. It was never a very well camera. It had been badly treated by it's former owners. I was constantly taking it in for repairs. Sadly it hasn't worked for a very long time, the repairs were just getting too expensive.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Spaceships always make things better I feel. I grew up watching footage of rockets smashing through the ozone layer and circling the earth and then landing on the moon. The sheer bigness and raw power was enthralling. If my memory services me right, I saw a traveling show of Americian space artifacts at New Brighton Primary school. Included in there were space suits and a space capsule from either the Mercury or Gemini programme. We got to see the the blackened heat shield! The moon landings always left me with a feeling of great sadness, leaving all those gorgeous Hasselblad cameras up there made me weep. But I digress… most movies with spaceships in are worth watching and I'm sure there are many more films that would be greatly enhanced with a guest appearance from a spaceship.
The above playground is near the Rangitata river mouth in south Canterbury.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I started making this garden shed just over a year ago out of mostly recycled bits from round the house, friends houses etc. It's more a chill out shed for keeping out of the wind or having a coffee.

One of the issues with recycled stuff is it takes forever to get it to a state that is acceptable both from a visual and practical point of view. The wood paneling in the top pic was scavenged from a sheet plastic importer. The wood is larch and smell devine. Because it was packing grade it need a lot of sanding. Hint; if using larch wear gloves. I was constantly lancing splinters from my hands and fingers

The door on the right hand side in the middle pic opens in two parts so the bottom part can stay shut and act as a bit of a counter to serve guests a beverage from.

The facade of the shed is some of the iron from when had our house roof replaced.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Sometimes food looks so enticing. Then you get it back home and tuck in, only to regret it. There is only so much pink icing I can consume. I think there may of been a computer game character that looked like this bun?

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Yo never know what might be hiding in the domains and sports grounds of small towns. This intriguing building is the local scout den in Leeston. I pretty sure its meant to represent tents. Hopefully it wasn't a normal square box building that sank in one corner!